Artist’s foundation buys Museum Mile townhouse to celebrate his work

The foundation of an under-appreciated impressionist artist has paid $27.75 million for a mansion just off Museum Mile to showcase his work. The Wall Street Journal reported that the foundation established by painter Cy Twombly purchased the five-story townhouse at 19 East 82nd Street that previously housed the Adelson Galleries and was owned by Warren Adelson. The property hit the market in December, under Judson Realty broker Nicholas Judson, with an asking price of $34.8 million.

Twombly painted in New York with well-known contemporaries Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns before moving to Rome in 1957. He died last summer.

“He is not a household name like Picasso or Warhol,” said Ralph Lerner, a lawyer and secretary of the Cy Twombly Foundation. “He is an American painter and deserves an American presence.”

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Therefore the foundation, which raised money for the purchase through the sale of Twombly’s artwork, will turn the 10,683 Beaux Arts structure into an education center and a small museum that showcases his artwork.

As The Real Deal previously reported, the Adelson Gallery, which acquired the property for $25 million in 2006, was seeking to sell the mansion as part of an investment strategy. [WSJ]